%0 Journal Article %A Vauthey, E. %T Watching Excited-State Symmetry Breaking in Multibranched Push-Pull Molecules %J Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters %@ 1948-7185 %V 13 %P 2064-2071 %D 2022 %U https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00259 %R 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00259 %U http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:159514 %X he emissive properties of symmetric molecules containing several donor-acceptor branches are often similar to those of the single-branched analogues. This is due to the at least partial localization of the excitation on one branch. Detailed understanding of this excited-state symmetry breaking (ES-SB) requires the ability to monitor this process in real time. Over the past few years, several spectroscopic approaches were shown to enable visualization of ES-SB and of its dynamics. They include the detection of new vibrational or electronic absorption bands associated with transitions that are forbidden in the symmetric excited state. Alternatively, ES-SB can be detected by observing transitions that become weaker or vanish upon localization of the excitation. Herein, we discuss these different approaches as well as their merits and weaknesses.